A top-class LaLiga SmartBank is back
UD Almería will face high-flying clubs: Espanyol de Barcelona, Rayo, Mallorca, Zaragoza, Sporting, Oviedo, Las Palmas, Málaga ...
UD Almería will once again have a demanding season in LaLiga SmartBank, once the 22 teams that make up the Spanish second-tier competition have been confirmed. Some of the biggest Spanish football clubs will compete in the ‘Silver Division’ once more, most of whom start with the initial objective of gaining promotion to the top-flight.
UD Almeria’s LaLiga SmartBank fixture list for the 2020/21 season have been revealed and we will begin our campaign a bit later than most other clubs. In relation to the teams who were relegated from LaLiga Santander, the second-tier welcomes back teams with the likes of Leganés, Mallorca and Espanyol. The three of them will fight to occupy the top positions that give them privilege to get promoted and, in addition, they have already got to clinch and celebrate titles, since the Majorcans won Copa del Rey and Supercopa de España, while the Catalans won Copa del Rey four times. By the same token, the Pericos (Espanyol) participated in European competitions nothing less than eleven times.
One way or another, it is expected that the first top two-finishing places in the table and the four play-off positions will be absolutely a tight race in store. Apart from UD Almería, who played the knockout stage last year, Real Zaragoza and Girona also failed to earn promotion after the play-offs and will be surely high-flying adversaries gunning for the top-six. On the other hand, clubs such as Sporting, Oviedo, Rayo Vallecano, Las Palmas or Tenerife know how LaLiga SmartBank works perfectly and they demonstrated it in the past 2019/20 campaign having big chances until the last matchdays to get into the fight for LaLiga Santander.
Andalusia will have the representation of neighbouring teams UD Almería and Málaga CF. Malaga luckily managed to avoid the drop several matchdays before the end of the campaign, although their history and good run in Spanish football make it position the Malagueños as one of the clubs to take into account this year. Not surprisingly, the Blanquiazules have even been present in the Champions League, reaching the quarter-finals.
In the capital of Spain, aside from the aforementioned Rayo Vallecano and Leganés, Alcorcón and Fuenlabrada, who stood out during the recently ended season, they are still competing in LaLiga SmartBank. The Alfareros (Alcorcon) have the best away form in all of Europe, while the Fuenlabreños unfortunately lost their place in the play-off competition on the last matchday.
Moreover, Albacete, Lugo, Ponferradina and Mirandés are amongst those sides who continue in the second-tier after their participation last year. They have always shown themselves to be difficult, competitive teams and have bagged important points throughout the championship. In fact, those players from Miranda de Ebro were on the brink of the promotion with only a few matchdays left for the conclusion.
LaLiga SmartBank welcomes four clubs from Segunda B - League one (EFL)- with a long history. In this sense, Cartagena, Logroñés, Castellón and Sabadell arrive at the ‘Silver division’ are utterly determined to go all out as they have been doing up to now.
Fixtures away
The closest cities that UD Almería are visiting on their away trips this upcoming season are Malaga (Andalusia) Cartagena (Murcia) and Albacete (Castilla-La Mancha). It should be noted that up to three trips to islands will have to be made: two of them to the Canary Islands (Tenerife and Las Palmas) and a third to the Balearic Islands (Mallorca).
The rest of the commitments will take place at places located both in the centre of Spain and in the North of the country. Therefore, the Rojiblancos will have to head to the Community of Madrid four times (Rayo Vallecano, Fuenlabrada, Alcorcón and Leganés); three to Catalonia (Girona, Sabadell and newly-relegated Espanyol de Barcelona); as well as two away trips to Asturias (Oviedo and Sporting de Gijón) and Castilla y León (Ponferradina and Mirandés).
Almería will also travel to other destinations, as mentioned above, the region of Murcia (Cartagena); Castilla-La Mancha (Albacete); the region of Valencia (Castellón); Aragon (Zaragoza), La Rioja (Logroñés) and Galicia (Lugo).